That was the motto the world lived by when the parasites turned up. They appeared in the water tables. Hooked mouths that chewed. A hundred feet that crawled. Something they secreted that made people, do things.

Terrible things.

The world ended three years ago.

A new one for me began seven months ago when Lily became pregnant.

But today I found one of them in my stool.

And now that I look at Lily’s bulging stomach, I wonder why I ever thought it was a baby at all.